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Christine Sinclair

Christine Sinclair, soccer player (born 12 June 1983 in Burnaby, BC). Christine Sinclair is one of Canada's most renowned soccer players.

Christine Sinclair, soccer player (born 12 June 1983 in Burnaby, BC). Christine Sinclair is one of Canada's most renowned soccer players. As Canada's all-time leading scorer and third all-time career international scorer, her successes include 12 female player-of-the-year awards from the Canadian Soccer Association, and multiple nominations for FIFA world player of the year.

Sinclair began playing soccer at a young age, first making the provincial under-14 team at age 11. While in high school, she led her team at Burnaby South Secondary School to three league championships.

Sinclair began to play with Canada's senior team in 2000 at the age of 16. Her emergence on the international scene came at the Algarve Cup in Portugal, where she led Canada in scoring by amassing four goals in three matches, and subsequently received her first title as female soccer player of the year by the Canadian Soccer Association. The next year Sinclair began studies at the University of Portland and took part in its prestigious women's soccer program. She scored 23 goals and had eight assists in her first season, and, having earned 110 goals, became the best all-time leading scorer in the history of the university's women soccer program. She also won two NCAA championships in 2002 and 2005, received the MAC Hermann Trophy in 2004 and 2005, and set an NCAA record with 25 postseason goals.

Sinclair continued to compete as a member of Canada's soccer teams while attending university in Portland. In 2002 she competed in her second Algarve Cup, where she scored four goals in four games. That same year she scored four goals in a single match against Haiti at the CONCACAF Gold Cup held in Vancouver, where Canada finished second. She then joined Canada's Under-19 team for the first FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship hosted in Edmonton, where she scored 10 goals. Team Canada finished with a silver medal and Sinclair won the tournament MVP and the FIFA Golden Shoe. In 2003 she played for Canada at the Women's World Cup, scoring three goals and leading the team to a fourth-place finish. Following her graduation from the University of Portland Sinclair began playing for the team FC Gold Pride, based in Santa Clara, California.

Sinclair was named Canada's women soccer player of the year by the Canadian Soccer Association again in 2004, an accomplishment she would be honoured with every year to 2014. Sinclair helped Canada win a second-place finish at the 2006 CONCACAF Gold Cup. In 2007, as captain of Canada's team at the Pan American Games, Sinclair helped Canada win a bronze medal by scoring two hat tricks and eight goals in a total of six games. 2007 also marked the year that Sinclair scored her 72nd international goal for Canada, becoming the country's all-time leading scorer; that same year she played her 100th international game with team Canada, only the third player in Canadian history to do so. The team rose to ninth in the world's FIFA rankings.

In 2008 Sinclair helped Team Canada to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Canada's first-ever soccer team to qualify. At the FIFA Women's World Cup came in 2011, however, the team left the tournament disappointed, having failed to win any points in the first round. Nonetheless, Sinclair was chosen as Canada's flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. The event proved to be redemption for the women's team, with the Canadian team taking the gold medal, the highest a Canadian Soccer team has finished.

Following the Games, Sinclair was selected once again for the team FC Gold Pride, followed by the team Western New York Flash of Women's Professional Soccer. She also returned to the Canadian female soccer team for the 2012 Summer Olympics as its captain. There, Sinclair led the team to a bronze medal victory, Canada's first medal in a traditional team sport at the Summer Games since 1936. She also scored an Olympic record six goals to earn the London 2012 Golden Boot award for top goal scorer. 2012 was not without controversy, however; Sinclair was suspended for four FIFA matches by the sport's governing body for comments she made after Canada's heartbreaking semi-final loss to the US. Nevertheless, given her achievements as captain of team Canada, Sinclair became the first soccer player to win the Lou Marsh Trophy for Canada's outstanding athlete of the year, and was named the Canadian Soccer Association's female athlete of the year.